Activities and objectives:
Pituitary Association aims to unite people with pituitary rare diseases, e.g. acromegaly, Cushing syndrome, etc.
Main activities so far:
1. Information campaign with Krachun Store. As one of the symptoms of acromegaly is the increasing size of shoes, leaflets inviting customers to test for acromegaly were distributed. The owners of the store – Ms. Vidyo Natsev and his wife Teodora have been supproting acromegaly patients for many years through donations and participation in campaigns.
2. Creating opportunities for diagnosis and follow-up of patients with acromegaly at University Hospital “St. Marina”, Varna. Following a request of Pituitary Association, kits for testing growth hormone and IGF1 were donated. So far the closest possible place to perform tests on patients from northeastern Bulgaria was in Sofia and Plovdiv, and now it will be possible to do in the laboratory of “St. Marina” in Varna. According to the European recommendations on rare diseases, the Association has beeen working to create a reference center for rare diseases of the pituitary gland at the University Hospital “St. Marina”, which would be closely connected with the existing center of expertise in Sofia (University Hospital “Acad. Penchev”). Pituitary Association expresses its gratitude to Prof. Dr. Sabina Zaharieva (University Hospital “Acad. Penchev”) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kiril Hristozov (University Hospital “St. Marina”) for their effors to make this project come true.